Crow Opinion: Lease of life

THE support of the Royston First project from North Herts District Council on Tuesday evening means that the steering committee will be able to ballot businesses on whether there is support for the scheme. The Crow has always said that a YES vote is essen

THE support of the Royston First project from North Herts District Council on Tuesday evening means that the steering committee will be able to ballot businesses on whether there is support for the scheme.

The Crow has always said that a YES vote is essential.

The project will eventually generate more than £1 million to be injected into the community.

And the cost of a 2 per cent levy on business rates does not seem too high a price to pay.

After all, the projects will be chosen by the businesses themselves, and all the cash raised is to be ring-fenced for Royston-based schemes.

Without such an injection of cash, we wouldn't be talking about such projects as providing a community cinema, or having more police on the streets.

Those are the kinds of projects which, otherwise, would be ignored, as bodies such as the district council and other local authorities cannot use public money for such schemes.

The ballot papers will be distributed next month - and to give Royston a new lease of life, there has to a YES vote.